


How Like a Winter

by LateStarter58



Series: The Felixstowe Sonnets - Tom and Cate [2]
Category: British Actor RPF, Tom Hiddleston - Fandom
Genre: F/M, Slow Burn, Tragic Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-08
Updated: 2019-01-08
Packaged: 2019-10-06 16:19:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17348492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LateStarter58/pseuds/LateStarter58
Summary: How like a winter hath my absence beenFrom thee, the pleasure of the fleeting year!(from Sonnet 97, William Shakespeare)





	How Like a Winter

The bar was crowded, noisy, and she was bone-weary, but she really needed this.

“Campari soda, please.” The barman nodded and turned to mix her drink as she settled onto the stool. She resisted the urge to check her phone, at least until she had downed some of it. Stirring the glass idly, she listened to the tinkle as the plastic rod disturbed the ice cubes, watching the shimmering of the lights through the ruby liquid. Her mind was restless, her heart heavy.

Someone slid onto the stool beside hers, but she ignored them. Lost in her own thoughts, thousands of miles away. On a leafy London street…

“Jameson’s, please. And another Campari soda for the lady…”

_It can’t be_

Her whole body tingled as chills rippled through her.

_That voice_

Almost afraid to look, she felt her head moving towards the sound, her breath trapped in lungs painful from the pressure of it. It was him.

_What? How?_

Did it matter? This kept on happening, ever since the bookshop where their two worlds had collided… It was as if they were linked by the cosmos.

And then she knew it: _they were_.

She felt him move a little closer, aware of the warmth of his firm, strong body as it neared hers. She was transfixed, her eyes on his, and then she was being drawn in, deeper and deeper until she was almost drowning in the limpid pools. Deep and blue and shining, she swam there, oblivious to everything else. His arm was moving, getting something out of his pocket.

A book. A small, green volume, well worn from a thousand turnings of the pages. Its leather cover was shiny from his loving touch. He put it down on the bar between their drinks and turned his body to face hers. Reaching out without needing to look down, he covered her small, perfect, tired hands with his large warm ones. He lifted them to his lips and placed a gentle kiss on her knuckles. Brown eyes rolled shut at the feel of his mouth against her skin.

When she opened them again they were full of tears. His gaze roamed her face, taking her all in as he squeezed her hands and smiled sadly at her. This was all they could ever have, this silent bonding. They both knew it and it was breaking them.

Time passed. The ice in their drinks melted; traffic inched its way up the avenue outside, grinding slowly along between the concrete towers that surrounded them. But they were aware only of each other. Of breaths being drawn in and let out. Of wafting fragrance. Of light shimmering off hair and in eyes. Of heat and love.

Always. Always of love.

Time was running out, for them, again. As it did every time. The hour of parting drew close, and the pain was unbearable. He began to speak, soft and dark, only just audibly, as his lips brushed her shining chocolate hair.

**_How like a winter hath my absence been_ **

**_From thee, the pleasure of the fleeting year!_ **

**_What freezings have I felt, what dark days seen!_ **

**_What old December's bareness every where!_ **

**_And yet this time remov'd was summer's time,_ **

**_The teeming autumn, big with rich increase,_ **

**_Bearing the wanton burden of the prime,_ **

**_Like widow'd wombs after their lord's decease:_ **

**_Yet this abundant issue seem'd to me_ **

**_But hope of orphans and unfather'd fruit;_ **

**_For summer and his pleasures wait on thee,_ **

**_And, thou away, the very birds are mute;_ **

**_Or, if they sing, 'tis with so dull a cheer_ **

**_That leaves look pale, dreading the winter's near._ **


End file.
